Intertextuality

--------------- Intertextuality ---------------

The way ideas or meanings can be planted in the mind of the viewer by inspiring a particular memory or state of mind either intentionally or unintentionally by means of an implied reference or allusion. The context in which an idea or meaning is intertextualized is important to its meaning, as It can be a look at the way a work is interpreted by different groups of people with different expectation prior experiences or understandings or it can be the way in which the artists experiences and enviroments influence their own work.

The first reference I think of actually are the cyborgs in Ghost in the Shell, I always had this weird perception of the synthetic bodies known in the fiction as 'prosthetics' they always seemed uncannily real but at the same time clearly an imitation of reality,

I think its the way they are drawn to look like prosthetics we see in the real world as so inspire our own memories and experiences relating to prosthetics in their real-life application.

Ghost in the Shell would have actually made a pretty good reference for the discussion of realism and its effects on people, and its relation to the visual arts.

Pixar are always referencing their own franchises ('Toy Story' dolls in 'Monsters Inc.' for one), but here’s a nod to another corporation.

The toolbox that Buzz Lightyear heaves off the milk crate is labeled Binford Tools which is the name of the company that sponsors the Tool Time segment in Tim (Buzz Lightyear) Allen’s TV sitcom 'Home Improvement'.

I post the above video because while watching (reading?) it I was reminded of one of the topics discussed in the lecture which most interested me, which is the idea that no work can be truly original because everything that comes out of the mind is only really a spiralled and processed interpretation of all the visual, emotional and physical experience we have to draw on.

I'm not sure if someone born in an empty nothingness would ever create anything but either way I believe that provided the information has been spliced and processed thoroughly enough that no sentient thought process and back trace it through the artists original thought processes then the work could be considered original.

Or perhaps nature is the only true creator and we as a species have forever just been perverting and amalgamating our impression of nature into something... different

entropy

Now on the topic of Entropy

"random blobs of power expressed as that which we all disregard,
ordered states of nature on a scale that no one thinks about,

don't speak to me of anarchy or peace of calm revolt,

man,

we're in a play
of slow decay orchestrated by boltzmann, it's entropy, it's not a
human issue,

entropy,

it's matter of course,

entropy,

enegery at all levels,

entropy,

from it you can not divorce

and your pathetic moans
of suffrage tend to lose all significance,

extinction, degradation;
the natural outcomes of our ordered lives,

power, motivation;
temporary fixtures for which we strive,

something in our synapses
assures us we're ok but in our desequilibrium we simply can not stay,
it's entropy...,

a stolid proposition from a man unkempt as i,

my affectatious i can not rectify,

but we are out of equilibrium unnaturally,

a pang of conciousness at death and then you will agree"

- Greg Graffin

(Author and Punk rock artist)

Communication

I would like to start with an except from the deeply beautiful, philosophical rotoscoped animation "Waking Life" this clip 'Because words are inert' describes a possible explanation for the development of language and a rationalisation for the human desire to communicate, to be understood and to understand.

Of course spoken language is by no means the only way media can communicate with its audience, but it seems to me that the development of the communication techniques used in media might stem from a point made in the above clip, the human desire to be understood to transcend this boundary that exists between each individual and the species as a whole, it is a braking down of barriers of language, visual media has been trying for as long as it has existed to find new ways of passing information without the use of language. Charlie Chaplin is an excellent example of the level of communication and indeed depth of communication that can be achieved only through body language.

Of course there are other means of communication which do not require text, artists throughout history have been communicating through symbols and visual metaphors some times with remarkable clarity, communicating hugely complex ideas through time, such as these possible messages from Michelangelo left on the Sistine Chapel. I assume he had hoped that one day the rest of mankind would catch up with him and interpret his message.

http://www.physorg.com/news196441618.html

I think that strong symbolism is important not only for hiding meanings but strengthening them a scene being shot in a dark forest will seem far more menacing with pointed tree's resembling daggers than a scene with soft fluffy tree tops inspiring thoughts of green clouds.

now some puppets

The puppets in the excellent film "Being John Malkovich" are a clear metaphor for the concept of embodying another being and a great symbolic tool for the reversed roles of the characters.

Communicating successfully with the audience is paramount to the success of any film, animation or image and the variety of language tools at our disposal is vast and stretches from the literal to the implied. It is however at the root of it the art of unlocking and inspiring shared memories of experience and feeling within the collective psyche of the audience.

Realism as it pertains to 3D and Film

Although the concept of realism is a many faceted and complex one which has been contemplated by philosophers and artists alike through the ages, I have chosen to for now look at one particular aspect which I feel both interests me and is well suited to a discussion of realism as it pertains to animation and film I am referring to the aptly named "uncanny vally"

Etymology

uncanny + valley, from Japanese 不気味 の 谷 (ぶきみ の たに, bukimi no tani), uncanny valley, first used in 1970 by roboticist Masahiro Mori

Noun

uncanny valley

A range of appearances, mannerisms, and/or behaviors subtly different from humanoid in an otherwise humanoid figure that may cause negative reactions, such as fear, discomfort, or revulsion.

References

1970: Masahiro Mori, The Uncanny Valley (Energy, 7(4), pp. 33–35)

So in this case, the appearance is quite human like, but the familiarity is negative. This is the uncanny valley.

2006: Sebastiano Bagnara, Gillian Crampton Smith, Theories and Practice in Interaction Design

However, when the robot is so similar that it may be momentarily mistaken for real, the transition has a local minimum characterized by a sudden decrease of familiarity, the "uncanny valley"—a dip of frustration due to unmet expectations.

2007: Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang

Almost human in appearance, yet not quite, the characters in 3-D computer animations are more disturbing than overt caricatures. The realm these creatures occupy is called the uncanny valley....

thanks wiktionary - http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uncanny_valley

The reason this idea of the uncanny valley is relevant to the field of 3D digital art should be quite obvious I just need to reference 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' or 'Final Fantasy: Advent Children' for it to be clear that this is not a problem the film industry has not always successfully avoided, it can be argued that 'Avatar' escaped the valley but there is still a significant group of people who found the digital characters made them uncomfortable if not revolting.

I think that this is an important issue as it limits the use of realistic CG characters in film. Synthespians (digital actors) I think are the future of all mainstream films, they can be designed to be perfect for a role, do not need payment and will never question a role, and of course you can do things with synthespians that would be impossible to do with a real actor. (Synthespians would also revolutionise the pornography industry)

This is an example of how NOT to do it.

And below is a video demonstrating very clearly how the addition of movement to a figure which already looks uncanny can exponentially increase the creepiness.

I made the blog.

Ok so something to tick off from my to-do list. Now to actually think about some good points relating to realism within 3D.